Rescuers work at the site where a factory under construction collapsed and dozens of people were trapped at Xizhaotong Town, Shijiazhuang City, capital of north China's Hebei Province, on August 4, 2009. [Xinhua]

Authorities in north China's Hebei Province confirmed on Tuesday three people were killed as a building in Shijiazhuang City toppled in the wake of torrential rains early Tuesday.

Zhang Haishuang, press section chief of the publicity department with Shijiazhuang City Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC), said the death toll would rise as more than a dozen people were buried in the debris when the building, which was in Xizhaotong Township, Chang'an District of Shijiazhuang.

Shijiazhuang turned dark at 7:00 AM as rainstorms hit the city. Hebei Provincial Weather Observatory issued warnings at 7:00 AM and 8:00 AM asking local residents to be aware of hazards brought by thunderstorm and torrential rains. The rainfall in Shijiangzhuang was 65.7 mm Tuesday morning.

One unidentified villager recalled the building, which was under reconstruction, collapsed at 8:30 AM during a loud thunderstorm, and those buried were mostly workers.

The site of the accident was cordoned off by the police. Xinhua reporters at the scene saw six people dragged from the debris.

Rescue operations are underway.

An ambulance with injured people leaves the site where a factory under construction collapsed and dozens of people were trapped at Xizhaotong Town, Shijiazhuang City, capital of north China's Hebei Province, on August 4, 2009. [Xinhua]

(Xinhua News Agency August 4, 2009)